Ex-WOHS standout Thompson to jump for JuCo

After taking a year off to “try out the workforce,” former White Oak High School standout Darien Thompson is headed back to the track to see just how high and far he can jump at a higher level.

Rick Scoppe-Sports Editor/The Daily News

After taking a year off to “try out the workforce,” former White Oak High School standout Darien Thompson is headed back to the track to see just how high and far he can jump at a higher level.

The 19-year-old Thompson is headed to Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College on a partial scholarship, where he’ll compete in the high jump, triple jump and long jump for a school that this past year was fifth in the national junior college championships.

But this, Thompson hopes, is just the start for him.

“I definitely see Coffeyville as a stepping stone, hopefully,” Thompson said. “I still need a lot of practice. When I get out there and learn the technique more maybe I can get out to a four-year university.”

Thompson said he considered a number of schools, but Coffeyville had a strong track program and also was more “jumpers-oriented.” And it didn’t hurt that the two-year school had turned in a strong showing at nationals.

“They seem to have a pretty good program and I definitely want to be a part of it,” he said.

Coffeyville is getting a jumper who may have just scratched the surface of his ability given he only competed in track his final two years at WOHS. As a senior, he won the NCHSAA 3-A East Regional in the long jump and high jump while finishing second in the triple jump in 2012.

Then in the state meet he was second in the triple jump (47 feet, 3 1/2 inches) and high jump (6-6) and fourth in the long jump (22-3 1/2).

After not heading right to college out of high school, Thompson said coach Chris Mueller brought up the possibility of doing the jumps in college this fall.

“I wanted to take a year off, try the work force and see if I liked that more than going straight back to school,” Thompson said. “When I talked to coach Mueller about it, I started telling him my parents want to move out of Jacksonville so Jacksonville wasn’t home any more so anywhere is possible.

“So he was like, ‘There’s a school out here, it’s in Kansas. Would you be interested?’ And I started with that.”

Ultimately, after earning his two-year degree at Coffeyville, Thompson hopes to move on to a bigger school.

“I really had high hopes of going to Western Carolina and starting there,” he said. “But I thought Coffeeville might be a little better to still develop since I only ran track for two years and I think I was still going off natural jumping ability instead of actually getting the techniques down. So I go to this school and they can help train me and then maybe try Western as a junior.”